July 7/10 10:28 am - C-Games Selection Camp Off to Fast Start

Posted by Editoress on 07/7/10

The Commonwealth Games Selection Camp for the track team is currently under way at the Home Depot Centre in Los Angeles. Three riders, Zach Bell, Steph Roorda and Laura Brown, have met the automatic criteria to be included in the pool for the team selections and have opted out of the camp. A handful of other riders, including Two Time World Champion Tara Whitten, who is spending the rest of the summer in Los Angeles, have made the trip for two days of testing themselves in timed efforts.

Head coach Richard Wooles is impressed with the times that have been posted in the first day with most of the riders smashing the performance standards. Jean-Michel Lachance arrived in LA a few days early to get his track legs back. "My road form was good with Tour de Beauce and Nationals in June, but my track bike remained in its box since the Pan-American Championships in May, so I didn't know what to expect. Anyhow, I guess it turns out good because I was able to post a personal best of 29.9 (flying 500 meter) in to a 3:25.9 3km (for the) endurance test."

Sprinter Monique Sullivan has had the Commonwealth Games on her radar for a long time. "Since track cycling is not at Canada Games I have never had the opportunity to participate in a Games. (A competition with athletes from all different sports competing at the same time, Olympics style.) I remember as a younger athlete being so jealous of the endurance riders I trained with and all of their cool Team Alberta gear."

"The timing of the trials was not ideal for me but I came down early to try to maximize my form. All week my legs felt terrible. I focused on every effort as it came and did my best today. I was so happy to make the time. I ended up doing one of my best times ever on this track and I think it is a very good indicator of things to come in the coming season. The team will be selected by the High Performance Committee and I am crossing my fingers. I really want to go!"

Joseph Veloce, another sprinter who has not had any multi-sport Games experience and is looking ahead to the 2012 Olympics, also posted good times on day 1. "I actually surprised myself today, setting a sea-level PB [personal best] in the 200m, so I was very happy with that. The whole team has done really well, with almost every rider meeting a standard in their first effort."

Travis Smith and Stephane Cossette are the other riders at the camp who are looking to make the Commonwealth Games team. The camp ends today with the team selections slated for the end of the week.